Walk on Fire
by fireblazie
Summary: In which Roy and Riza take "Romeo and Juliet" way too seriously.


Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, or _Romeo and Juliet_. My gosh, do you know how rich I'd be if I did:starts to dream:

: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, or . My gosh, do you know how rich I'd be if I did:starts to dream:

Walk on Fire - in which Roy and Riza take "Romeo and Juliet" a little too seriously. Inspired by way, way, way too much "Romeo and Juliet." Rrrgh.

"O Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?" Roy was feeling a little... **strange**, let's say, today, and instead of an alchemy book he was clutching a copy of one of the most famous plays in the world.

Riza cocked an eyebrow. "Sir... have you finished your paperwork?"

He flashed her a grin, "Why, yes, I have."

Riza blinked. Well. That was new. "Oh."

He smiled, patiently. "Is there anything else for me, First Lieutenant?"

The blonde shook her head, "No, sir."

"Ah, good." He looked from her, to the book, and then asked, nonchalantly, "Have you ever read _Romeo and Juliet_, First Lieutenant?"

"Once, maybe.." He was really in a strange, garrulous mood. "I don't remember it much, honestly.."

He smiled. "It's a nice play."

"A tragedy, wasn't it?" She decided to play along.

"Yes, yes it was." He bowed his head. "Forbidden love, reckless, reckless teens."

"Rather unrealistic too, wasn't it?"

His mouth turned up, "I suppose it was. I thought you didn't remember it much."

She didn't reply. "Yes, I think I remember it now. I didn't like it very much."

"You didn't?" Somehow, he didn't seem surprised. And, he felt like walking on fire today. "Why not? It's really a very moving story."

She didn't bother to hide the surprise on her face. Whoever would have thought that Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist himself, would secretly have a fondness for romantic tragedies? "It's very unrealistic, sir."

"Go on."

She felt frustrated - but this was her superior, and she wouldn't simply storm out of his office. With a forced air of calm, she reached for the book, "May I?"

He nodded.

She flipped through the pages, pausing every so often to read. "They didn't know each other for more than twenty-four hours, sir, before they started to declare their love."

"It might have been love at first sight," the Colonel suggested.

"They were much too reckless," she went on, "no one would ever have done such a thing. Look. Getting married in secret. Finding a priest, a friar, who'd actually go along with this whole thing. And then this - killing themselves for each other."

When she stopped, she looked up, and found him watching her.

"My dear," he said, smiling slightly, "you are overanalyzing things."

She frowned. "..sir?"

"They were caught up in the moment, Romeo and Juliet. They had met each other, fallen for each other, yet their families hated each other. They wanted to end that, you know, and they joined together in marriage. Then comes the ironic twist of events, and, yes, they die."

"But, sir," she pressed on, "no one in their right mind, in real life, would do such things. No one would be so reckless; no one would be so hasty."

"Maybe they would, if they found the right person," Roy said, quietly.

And the way he looked at her sent shivers down her spine.

"Excuse me, sir," she murmured, bowing down, before fleeing the room.

-

The snow drifted down in soft, powdery flakes. For a moment, Riza simply stood there, allowing herself to bathe in the snow. There was something magical, ethereal, about the moment.

"Come on, Black Hayate," she gently urged her dog, "it's cold. Let's go back in, hm?"

He whined softly, burying his nose at her feet.

She sighed in reply.

Then he barked, towards something behind her. She turned, and was greeted with that soft, familiar grin. She paused. Then acknowledged him. "Sir.."

"Hawkeye." He offered her a smile, which she reluctantly returned. Why here? Why now?

Because on his arm...

...was a woman.

An elegant, sophisticated woman - a woman that hadn't held a gun in her arm; a woman that hadn't killed during the war in Ishbar; a feminine, sexy woman, the type of woman the Colonel would undoubtedly go for.

Not her.

No one would want her.

"What a cute dog," the other woman observed, smiling kindly. "May I pet him?"

Riza only nodded. She glanced up at her superior. "A date, I see.."

He waved weakly, "I finished my paperwork before I left.."

"I'm sure you did." Riza suddenly felt tired, weak, hungry, sleepy. She closed her eyes briefly.

He noticed. He always did - she never could hide anything from him. "Are you tired, Hawkeye? Maybe we should leave."

"A little bit," she lied, somewhat. She never admitted a weakness like that. "Anyway, you must want to get back to your date, right?"

His eyes glazed over, and for a moment it seemed like he was just staring at her, solely at her - but then the moment died, and he blinked, and grinned weakly. "Of course." His date scratched behind Black Hayate's ears, and stood up to reclaim her position next to him. "By the way," he turned to his date, "this is First Lieutenant Hawkeye." He turned back to Riza and gestured to his date, "this is Rosaline."

"Nice to meet you." So pathetically fake, but it didn't matter.

She watched them depart, out of the corner of her eye. Her grip on Black Hayate's leash tightened, just slightly, and then she shook her head.

On her way home, she stopped by the library and picked up a copy of _Romeo and Juliet_.

-

She was aware of his eyes on her as she sat silently at her desk, already done with her paperwork. The load had been lighter that day, and she pushed the stack to the corner of her desk. Then, she'd retrieved _Romeo and Juliet_ from her bag, settled back, and opened to the first act.

And now he was gazing at her - well, she thought numbly, perhaps not **gazing**, but his eyes continuously flickered towards her. She wasn't quite certain how she could tell these things. Maybe it was all the years of familiarity. Sometimes, she would freeze, pretending to read, although in reality waiting for him to call her name, to say something... but minutes would pass and nothing would be said, so she'd simply go back to her reading.

Finally, she heard him crack his knuckles, casually throw his pen down, and yawn. She lifted her head from the book and looked at him questioningly.

"I thought I'd take a break," he said, seemingly innocent.

She frowned, "Are you.."

"A five minute break, Hawkeye," he said, lips curving into a smile, "that's all, I swear."

"Yes, sir." She glanced out, checking to see if there was any other work needed for her to do. There wasn't, and she buried herself back in her book.

Then, she noticed that he had stopped, directly behind her. She twitched.

"Sir?"

"Just reading - ah." Realization dawned on him, "are you annoyed when someone reads over your shoulder?"

"No, sir..." But let pigs fly before she dared to tell him the truth!

"Then it's perfectly fine, right?"

"Yes, sir.."

But...dammit! She couldn't concentrate, not a bit! Her neck twitched, as though to turn and look at him, but she controlled herself - only just.

"I thought," he murmured, breath tickling her hair, "that you didn't like this play."

"I was curious," she replied, softly.

"Curious?"

"About why you liked it so much, sir."

"Me?"

"...I thought, maybe if I read it again, I'd be able to see why you thought it so moving."

A stretch of silence, and then: "What do you think so far?"

"I think it's still overrated and far too unrealistic, sir."

Longer silence, and she turned to face him in time to see the bittersweet grin disappear from his face. "I see."

His eyes, charcoal black, burned into hers.

The words fell out of her: "How was your date last night, sir?"

He jerked, obviously surprised. It was rare to get such a reaction out of the Colonel. "Good," he finally answered, awkwardly. "She was a very charming woman."

"Oh." She'd barely kept herself from stuttering. "That's good."

"Yes." He smiled softly at her, but it was somehow different. "First Lieutenant...?"

"Yes?"

"Stand up."

She raised her eyebrows, puzzled. Still, ever the First Lieutenant, she stood up without question. "Erm, sir?"

"Hang on." The Flame Alchemist strode to his desk, retrieving his own copy of _Romeo and Juliet_. "Now, let us read. Act Two, Scene Two."

Frustrated - but, unable to say anything - Riza could only turn to the said page. She skimmed over it quickly, heart plummeting. "The...balcony scene?"

"That's right," Roy answered amiably. "I'll play Romeo, and you'll play Juliet."

"Sir?" Riza turned to see if anyone was watching - this would undoubtedly raise some eyebrows. "What is this for?"

"This, my dear, is so that you can truly experience the beauty of Shakespeare first hand. What better way than to actually act it out, right? Let's see, why don't you stand on that chair. You're supposed to be on a balcony, after all.."

"But, I -" He cut her off, and she found herself being whisked atop the plastic chair.

"Just one scene, Hawkeye," he stated, lightly, "just the balcony scene, and I promise I'll never bother you about this again."

Strictly professional, that was what their relationship was. He was the Colonel. She was the First Lieutenant. He was of a higher rank than her, and therefore, she was to obey his command without question, no matter how stupid or pointless the said command was.

"Yes, sir," she murmured.

"Very good." He smiled again, and cleared his throat. "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is -"

And she found herself drifting off. She spoke when necessary, but she didn't really give it her full, undivided attention until somewhere towards the middle of it, when she noticed just how into it the Colonel was.

"With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls..." There he was, the joking, flirting Colonel.

"If they do see thee, they will murder thee." And there she was, the practical one, as always.

And she didn't realize it until close to the end, but she had truly poured her soul into Juliet, into the lines, into the loving words that she herself could never truly say -

"Good night, good night, parting is such sweet sorrow..."

And at the very last line, she truly, truly gazed straight into his eyes, and he into hers, and something happened, something terribly wonderful, and she bit her tongue so hard that she drew blood.

Thunderous applause broke into the still moment, and they turned to see just about all of the military personnel cheering, clapping, and whistling. Riza smiled, slightly, and rolled her eyes. Roy grinned, dashingly, and bowed.

"Do you see now?" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth. His hand searched for hers and found it. She turned to face him, and he went on, voice low, voice husky, "We are both playing Romeo and Juliet. Forbidden to love, forbidden by these goddamned rules, but we do so anyway, loving each other like the blind fools that we are."

And she saw - very painfully, she saw.

She squeezed his hand back.

She would walk on fire for him, and he for her.

end

LOL...ok, so I was studying for my _Romeo and Juliet_ test, and this, this just came out of nowhere. Eheh. It sounded better in my head than here. Oh, well. Not particularly satisfied with the ending, but I couldn't come up with anything else. Reviews are always appreciated!


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